Street food in Puglia

6 specialties of street food in Puglia

Focaccia

Focaccia is a leavened baked bread and seasoned with tomatoes, olives, oregano, and extra virgin olive oil.

Walking around Puglia, you may find different kinds of Focaccia: for example, in Bari, the tradition wants it to be thin, while in Altamura, it’s taller.

In Salento (the southernmost part of Puglia), Focaccia is made from two layers of dough or mashed potatoes filled with black olives, tomatoes, and onions. We suggest you choose your favorite one tasting them all!

I wrote an article about how to make Focaccia Barese with the traditional recipe if you want to learn how to make it before coming to Puglia

Panzerotto

The Panzerotto is another gastronomic specialty that you can find in the bakery as street food in Puglia.

We’re talking about a circle of filled dough, closed on itself to form a half-moon. The traditional one is filled with tomato and mozzarella, but you can also find it filled with meat, ricotta cheese, onions, or any other ingredients.

But, if you’re in Salento and would love to taste a Panzerotto, ask for a Calzone!

Rustico Leccese

The Rustico is typical of Lecce and it’s a crispy dough of puff pastry stuffed with béchamel, tomato, and mozzarella. Locals eat it from breakfast to dinner.

Puccia

Puccia is a stuffed bun made of the same pizza dough. 

In Lecce, it is usually stuffed with vegetables like aubergines, tomatoes, peppers, zucchini, wild chicory, and cheese. While in Taranto and Foggia, it’s richer and filled with meat or ham, scamorza cheese, fries, tomatoes, and salad.

Sgagliozze

One of the biggest specialty of street food in Puglia is the crunchy polenta flakes called sgagliozze in Bari and scagliozzi in Foggia: eat them hot with a pinch of salt to taste the original recipe.

Popizze

Another very simple but tasty typical street food in Puglia is popizze, also known as pettole.

They’re little balls of the same fried panzerotto dough, but they’re not stuffed.

Raw fish

Walking along the seafront of Bari, you’ll meet some fishermen that will offer you raw fish to eat right there. Eating raw octopus, squids, and mussels it’s a big tradition in the capital city of the region.

If you’re not used to raw fish, you shouldn’t try it, but we suggest you get a walk between the fishmongers anyway, to breathe the atmosphere.

Sweet street food

Talking about street food in Puglia, sweets deserve a special mention, starting from Pasticciotto, a shortcrust pastry filled with custard and black cherry, born in Lecce.

Another incredible goody from our region is the Passionata, typical from Troia, on the Daunia Mountains. It is a shell of almond paste which contains a sweet ricotta heart.

Once you eat one of them, it will remain in your dreams forever, as the Tetta Della Monaca (the traditional sarcastic name that sounds like “nun’s boob”) a soft sponge cake gently filled with Chantilly cream, typical of Altamura.